Ohio Charter News Weekly - 7/13/18

Yesterday, the Fordham Institute released their latest Pathway to Success profile that’s part of a series dedicated to highlighting how charter schools are helping students and families across Ohio thrive. This profile features a student at Near West Intergenerational School in Cleveland, a charter that emphasizes relationships and rigor to ignite lifelong learning. If you (or someone you know) would like to have a school or student featured in Fordham’s Pathway to Success series, please contact [email protected].

Big changes to Newark, Ohio, charter schools

Newark City Schools has decided, for now, to stop sponsoring charter schools. The two schools it sponsored, Newark Digital Academy and Par Excellence Academy, will continue serving students but with new governance structures. The district will take over Newark Digital Academy, while Par Excellence will be sponsored by the Ohio Department of Education. For Par Excellence, this means the school is now accepting more students for K-5 and is expanding to include two sixth grade classrooms (much to the delight of many parents who have pushed for the expansion for years).

New Orleans becomes first district in U.S. to oversee a citywide system of charter schools

It’s widely known that since the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans has become an all charter school city. What’s lesser known is that responsibility for overseeing those schools recently shifted from the state’s Recovery School District back to the locally-elected school board. The Orleans Parish School Board is now the nation’s first district to oversee a citywide system of charters. For a brief history of charters in New Orleans, what comes next, and the lessons it might hold for other cities, take a look at this interesting story from The 74.

Charter group focuses on teacher diversity

There is a serious lack of diversity in the teaching profession that impacts both charter and district schools. Uncommon Schools, a charter network with 52 sites in the Northeast, is aggressively trying to change that. Uncommon is recruiting black and Hispanic students in their junior years of college to teach during the summer to see if they’d like to work in education. Learn more about their efforts here.

Chad Aldis is the Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s Vice President for Ohio Policy and Advocacy. In this role, Chad plans and leads Fordham’s Ohio policy, advocacy, and research agenda . He represents the Institute in its work with the media, state and local policy makers, other education reform groups, and the public.

Chad has a strong background in Ohio education policy work having previously served as the…

Madison Yoder was the communications and policy associate for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Prior to joining Fordham, she served as the communications specialist for an Ohio coalition dedicated to supporting high standards for all Ohio students, regardless of zip codes.